Urban Gateways
The mission of Urban Gateways is to ignite the full creative potential of all young people.

Urban Gateways specializes in bringing the best of the visual, literary, media and performing arts to children in school-based and community settings throughout the Chicago area. Founded in 1961, UG excels at deepening the artistic experience for all youth by ensuring that the arts play a critical role in every child’s education.

As the oldest and largest multidisciplinary arts organization in Chicago, we pride ourselves on and are known for the scope of arts programming, the quality of artist training, the reputation of our teaching artists and our responsiveness to diverse school populations and needs.

Every Art. Every Child. Every Day.
We believe that active engagement and education in the arts are essential components of every individual’s academic, aesthetic and personal development.

We accomplish our mission by promoting and fostering learning in and through the arts within the Chicago metropolitan area.

We believe in:

* Equitable access to the arts: all children must have the opportunity to be regularly engaged in meaningful artistic experiences

* Diversity: broad forms of creative expression enrich the learning process

* Artist as educator: the artist brings unique perspectives and skills to the learning process that catalyze young people’s development in profound ways

* Collaboration: working together we succeed; everyone has a part to play in furthering arts education for our youth